1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to motor vehicle electrical systems, and particularly to a universal fleet electrical system for fleets of emergency vehicles, such as police vehicles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Law enforcement agencies typically have large fleets of motor vehicles which require a wide variety of aftermarket accessories, including, but not limited to, radios, light bars, arrow sticks, flashers for high beams, grill lights, brake and backup lights, strobe lights, dash lights, rear deck lighting, mobile dispatch terminals, video cameras, and computers. Original equipment manufacture (OEM) police packages offer base packages which are very expensive and which do not begin to provide the capability of handling all accessory needs. State agencies and local government entities have tight budgetary constraints which require that accessory systems be put up for bid to local vendors. Unfortunately, wiring systems vary from vendor to vendor, and often accessories must be hard wired by tapping into the vehicle's existing wiring system. As accessories accumulate, the vehicle's accessory wiring system becomes very complex with no unifying schematic. Consequently, when an accessory fails, it becomes very difficult and time consuming to track down the fault through the vehicle's wiring system.
Various inventions have sought to simplify vehicle wiring systems to make electrical systems more economical and to reduce the cost of servicing vehicle electrical systems. U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,155, issued September, 1983 to Aoki et al., describes a wiring system which eliminates external jumper wires by housing a switch box and fuse box in a connector box with buss bars which branch to terminals and split terminals leaving the connector box. U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,718, issued August, 1987 to Maue et al., teaches a junction box with circuit boards inside, and a top cover having sockets which receive standard wire harnesses, customized buss bars selected by vehicle options, and any additional components required by the accessory circuits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,884, issued July, 1989 to Sawai et al. shows a junction box to which a controller and a wire harness attach, the junction box having buss bars inside. U.S. Pat. No. 4,864,154, issued September, 1989 to Copeland et al., discloses a device for shutting down auxiliary devices in a police car which are not connected to or controlled by the ignition switch, e.g., radios, public address, etc., so that the battery does not run down, the device comprising a timer circuit between the battery and the auxiliary device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,561, issued September, 1990 to A. B. Tamer, describes a smart power connector for carrying multiplexed data signals between a central control module and peripheral control modules. U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,148, issued September, 1999 to W. F. Wagner, teaches a power connection box with fused circuits and relays to control various devices on a police car or other emergency vehicle. The box is mounted under the dash, receives one wire from the positive terminal of the battery and a second wire from the ignition switch. The box provides some output terminals which are always hot, some output terminals which are hot only so long as the ignition switch is on, and some output terminals which are hot with the ignition on but with a delay to keep them hot for a predetermined time when the ignition is turned off, and fused circuit pass throughs for connecting a light controller to the light bar. The device uses a tamer integrated circuit and a flip-flop.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,973,409 and 6,150,734, issued October, 1999 and November 2000, respectively to Neibecker et al., show a system having a case including a signal distribution board and a power distribution board which are connected by a first card with fuses and a second card with relays. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,990,570 and 6,307,279, issued November, 1999 and October, 2001, respectively to Yoshida et al., disclose a solid state power distribution device for eliminating fuses and reducing wiring requirements. U.S. Pat. No. 5,990,573, issued November, 1999 to Granitz et al. describes a plurality of area modules distributed at various locations near the loads throughout a vehicle, each area module having a plurality of slots for receiving feature modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,840, issued Mar. 22, 1994 to W. J. Gieffers and assigned to Federal Signal Corporation, describes a programmable emergency signalling system for a vehicle which includes a control head mounted in the dash area of the vehicle, a programmable control unit in the trunk of the vehicle, and a serial communications cable linking the control head to the control unit. The control unit is programmed by a keypad which may be integral with the control head, or which may be on a laptop computer that can be connected to the control head. Relays for switching the lights, sirens, or other accessories are connected to the control unit. The system is an add on, however, and does not disclose a universal wiring system and harness adapted for connection to the control head and control unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,411,874, issued Jun. 25, 2002 to Morgan, et al., discloses a control system for a police car or other emergency vehicle having a user interface, preferably with a “touch screen” keypad, disposed in the passenger compartment which is connected to a central controller in the trunk of the vehicle by a data bus. The system reduces clutter in the passenger compartment by reduction of multiple switch controls in the passenger compartment. The Morgan patent does not describe such a control system integrated into a universal harness controlling all vehicle electrical functions.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a universal fleet electrical system solving the aforementioned problems is desired.